Automated backup solution

mavers

mavers

mavers

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I currently have 3 systems and am looking at creating an automated backup solution.

The systems:
HTPC runs win7 (60gb ssd and 2tb hd)
first laptop runs vista (250gb hd)
second laptop runs win xp (120gb hd)

I'd like all backups to be stored on the HTPC 2tb hd.
What software (free or paid) would be best to wake up the pc's to start a backup during the night? I'd like incremental backups every week with a full backup every month without any user intervention

Additionally I'd like to backup the 2tb hd to an external usb hd. I'd like this copy to be the actual files and folders (but not all folders/files) as opposed to an image file. Is it possible to do this in an automated fashion?

Thanks
 
Macrium Reflect can be set to run on a schedule, and the paid version will allow you to save the image to a network location - though I like to have a local copy on each machine. To copy the local copies you can just automate a robocopy script.

At home I have a server, a desktop and a windows laptop that are all backed up using Macrium Reflect. Each computer saves the image locally. Then laptop and desktop have robocopy scripts that copy the image files to the server. I also have another script that copies all the files from the server to a removable USB hard drive.

The only intervention from me is when copying to the USB HDD, as sometimes Windows doesn't see it after coming out from sleep. I use my PC every day and it is one of my rituals so always gets done!

There are alternatives to Macrium Reflect such as Acronis TrueImage and Norton Ghost. I suspect they too have scheduling features. Pick your poison.
 
Hi Sirius,

Sorry to trouble you, i like mavers above am looking to create a schedule of backups of my desktop machine. I have a 1TB external desktop HD connected to my machine via usb which has the drive letter "I". I like yourself use the free version of Macrium reflect which is the best backup solution i have ever used :).

Anyway more to the point i was wondering if you could give me a hand setting up a script so that when macrium has finished backing up i can run the batch that will transfer the files to my external drive. I have a little bit of experience with batch files i created a little backup tool for copying my music using xcopy, would it be kinda the same thing? i was thinking of maybe adding a log file to show the file that had been copied to but im not to sure how

For example

xcopy "C:\users\liam\documents\(macrium backup)" "I:\macrium backup" /d /e

I know people might say its easier to just save the output imagefile to the external drive but this is something id be curious to know how to do this. Would you also happen to know if i would be able to create an image of my laptop and somehow have a script to send it to the external drive connected to my desktop? my laptop is wireless to my router where as my desktop is wired, would i have to hard wire my laptop to the router?

Mavers id really like to know how you get on with this as its something im really keen on also

hope you can help mate, thanks so much for your time
 
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@liamcrane

Robocopy is my weapon of choice for copying files over the network [or anywhere really!].

Using your example I would use this to copy the image files to the USB HDD:

robocopy "C:\users\liam\documents\Macrium Backups" "I:\Macrium Backups"/S /R:1 /W:1 /LOG:C:\users\liam\backup-transfer.log

/S tells robocopy to copy any subfolders/files in the source directory
/R:1 tells robocopy to retry a file once if for some reason the copy failed
/W:1 tells robocopy to wait 1 second before retrying. The retry amount and wait you can alter if you like, but copying to USB tends to be pretty reliable so the settings above should be fine.
/LOG:<path> tells robocopy where to save the log file to.

If you put the above in a .bat file [a text file with .bat extension] you can set up scheduled tasks to run it at a set interval. Scheduled tasks can be found in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools.

On my desktop, Macrium runs at 0120. There is a robocopy command that runs via Scheduled Tasks at 2200 later the same day which transfers the image file(s) and other stuff to my server. When and where you send your image files is down to you. :)
 
I have just installed Macrium Reflect to backup my entire D drive.

I see the backup saves it as a single image file, how can you access the data from that image file?

Also, I would like to set up a server to automatically copy my backups onto, What server do you use? What would I need to install on it. Basically, what do I need to do to get this all up and running?

Also, when Macrium does a backup does it rebackup everything it backed up previously or just adds to the previous backup anything that has changed?

My system is currently doing a full backup of my data drive with a total of about 580 GB of data on it which Macrium is estimating at taking 5 hours to backup?
 
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rctneil said:
I have just installed Macrium Reflect to backup my entire D drive.

I see the backup saves it as a single image file, how can you access the data from that image file?
Click to expand...

Macrium Reflect will let you open the image file and poke around it as if it were another HDD attached to your system. The same for file backups too.

Also, I would like to set up a server to automatically copy my backups onto, What server do you use? What would I need to install on it. Basically, what do I need to do to get this all up and running?
Click to expand...

I use SBS 2008 on my server at home, but any networked computer with sufficient storage will do. No additional software is required on your server machine - other than Macrium if you wish to backup the server itself.

Also, when Macrium does a backup does it rebackup everything it backed up previously or just adds to the previous backup anything that has changed?
Click to expand...

You can set Macrium to do Incremental backups, so after the initial backup, it will only create an image of the changes since the last backup run. There are lots of really good tutorials on the Macrium website for how to achieve this.

My system is currently doing a full backup of my data drive with a total of about 580 GB of data on it which Macrium is estimating at taking 5 hours to backup?
Click to expand...

580GB is a lot, especially if Macrium is also compressing it as it goes.
 
yeh, hopefully, as I won;t be doing a full backup everytime it should be pretty quick.

What about when the backups end up filling all the drives space? Will it delete the older backups or what?

So i could just build a system with lots of storange and use a spare copy of Vista ultimate i have on it and send all the backups to that?
 
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You can tell Macrium to only keep a certain number of backups. Generally I do a full backup once a week, with incremental backups in between. Every time it does a full backup, it deletes any older than 14 days [and automatically deletes any related incremental backups]. So at anyone time I have two weeks' worth of backups for each system. This keeps the amount of data down and is quite hard to fill up HDD space - unless you add lots of data frequently.

With 500+GB I would probably only do a full backup once a month and incremental in between. Having said that, if you kick it off at say midnight, you can let it do its thing overnight, so you could do a full backup more often, though the amount of storage you have would dictate how much you keep.

Sending files to a network share doesn't require anything special. You could even send it to a NAS if you really wanted. So yes, any PC with sufficient storage any just about any OS capable of creating shares will do. :)
 
How can I just do a file and folder backup?. I want to backup 1 specific folder from my C drive but cannot find the option for a file and folder backup anywhere?
 
You will need the paid for version of Reflect.

If you are only backing up one folder - just use Robocopy. Or FreeFileSync if you prefer a GUI.
 
Ok, The backup I did today using Reflect was to only backup files and folders from my D drive as an image file. I am not bothering imaging my C drive as I don;t mind reinstalling Windows and applications at all.

My other backup solution is to Mirror all the files on my D drive (just data) to my external HDD using FreeFileSync but I actually prefer having the backup as 1 large image which i can mount and explore as needed.

My only concern is having to run the full backup every now and again whereas when using FFS and mirror, it would copy new files and delete files that no longer exist.

Using reflect to image my data would also make it easier to copy to another location for even more data security.

The only things I need to backup on my system is everything on D drive and my Desktop folder.

That's it!
 
Would robocopy be the best (fastest/most reliable) way of doing a one off transfer of 500GB from my gigabit NAS to a new internal drive?
 
I have just noticed that Macrium Reflect Free doesn;t do the differetial or Incremental backups.

Is there a program that does all this entirely for free or not?
 
+1 there SiriusB macrium is one of the best tools i have ever used re-imaged my laptop loads of times with no issues at all.

Just got another quick question for you mate, im thinking of trying a server setup as i hve never used one b4 and i really want to look into it as im looking to study my network+ soon. What is the best windows server to use 2003 maybe? I dont actually have a spare machine to run the server on so i was thinking of maybe trying to run it on a virtual machine, never really used one b4 but a lot of people have said they are great virtual box comes to mind, just wanted your advice really.

If you could help id be so grateful mate i really appreciate your time

Many thanks
 
Server 2008 is the newest platform, but 2003 is still prevalent in many organizations. The real question is which one can you get your hands on.

2003 and 2008 will run well enough in a virtual machine for testing and experimentation. You could even run it full time if only you are accessing it. Though a dedicated box is preferred.
 
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